Chiropractors who specialize to provide superior senior care

Numbers don’t lie in regard to what could make up your future patient base when pivoting toward superior senior care

The classic board game Monopoly and professional chiropractic care have one thing in common: They both are familiar to and used by people of all ages. Many chiropractic practices treat patients ranging in age from 10 years old to 99. But focusing attention and marketing efforts on the senior citizen group can afford your practice many benefits financially and as a valued community entity known for providing superior senior care as:

1 in 4 Americans need senior-specific care
The senior citizen population in the United States now accounts for more than 76 million people, almost 25% of the entire country, according to the website Statista.com.
And in a study by the Harvard Joint Center for Housing,¹ the aging population of U.S. residents between the ages of 60 to over 85 is projected to be more than 101 million by 2040. Furthermore, the U.S. Census Bureau predicts that by 2035, more older adults will be in the U.S. than children.

Your practice can benefit from targeting a population who is more likely to require your services. This audience tends to have more concerns with health issues, including ones related to musculoskeletal. Additionally, as the body ages, other difficulties arise, ranging from the risk of falling, increased chronic pain, loss of balance, and decreased range of motion to general musculoskeletal degradation.

Because many older individuals can benefit from chiropractic care, targeting your services to this ever-growing senior population will positively impact your business.

Benefits to your practice

There are many encouraging outcomes in which providing superior senior care could boost your business: A clientele of seniors will naturally increase your exposure to other potential patients in this age demographic — think free “word-of-mouth“ advertising.
Establishing a good reputation within this sector can translate your practice into the “go to” facility in the community.

Besides these types of patient-to-patient referral opportunities, developing a practitioner-to-practitioner referral network will also increase your flow of patients. As you proceed with due diligence and an initial exam workup on a patient, there will be instances for you to create and add to your physician referral network. Developing these crucial relationships goes a long way toward business development. And, of course, physicians will be able to refer patients to you as they explain the benefits of chiropractic care, i.e., weight-bearing exercise to help slow down bone loss, and balance improvement through proper alignment of the musculoskeletal system.

Quality of life for your senior patients

Seniors make up a significant portion of the average chiropractic patient base for a reason: chiropractic care can be highly beneficial to their health and well-being.

An abstract by the National Library of Medicine analyzed the research and data surrounding the effectiveness of chiropractic care for seniors.²This report found there is a suggestive body of knowledge that chiropractic care can improve symptoms of the following conditions that often impact seniors:

Musculoskeletal pain syndromes
Neck pain (with and without stenosis)
Thoracic dysfunction
Knee pain
Dizziness

When you specialize in providing superior senior care, you know you will improve your patients’ quality of life. Building a relationship with patients and boosting their confidence in your practice will only encourage them to continue to seek treatment as needed.

Older patients often prefer complementary and alternative medicine (CAM)

We all know chiropractic care is a unique subset of conventional medicine seeking to provide pain relief without medications and surgeries. Older adults often prefer these treatments to more traditional approaches. In addition, complementary and alternative medicine is often more affordable and less prone to side effects.

One study³ from the University of Michigan’s Institute for Healthcare Policy and Innovation found that almost 40% of older adults use at least one integrative medicine strategy to ease mental or physical health concerns. These strategies could include chiropractic care, yoga, meditation, massage therapy or another CAM therapy. This same study found that 38% of participants found their treatments very beneficial, while 54% found them somewhat helpful.

Offering these varied types of treatments will leave a favorable impression on this demographic.

Insurance and providing superior senior care

While not exclusive to senior citizens, accepting Medicare in 2023 can be a reliable source of income. Even though all available services are not covered, Part B covers certain doctors’ services. It also helps diversify the demographic and payer base.

“Some Medicare Advantage and commercial insurance plans have a supplemental benefit that allows you to see a chiropractor for chronic pain,” says Douglas Metz, MD, chief health services officer at American Specialty Health.

Even AARP offers medical supplement insurance plans through the United Healthcare insurance company. The plans, also known as Medigap, help people pay for out-of-pocket medical expenses that original Medicare does not cover.

Building a robust senior marketing strategy

Focusing your marketing attention on a specific niche allows you to be effective with advertising, budgeting and your time. Here are some steps to consider:

Define the group you’d like to target, i.e., by age grouping
Set an overall budget, then research the best media. Will it be local newspapers, print advertising or social media posts on a Facebook page or group (or a combo)?
Create your message for this age category. Continually educate, inform and build trust. Examples could include variations:
- Have chronic back pain? Call to see how we can help relieve pain.
- Want to reduce your risk of falling? Schedule an appointment for a screening.
- Annual bone density screenings to potentially identify any bone loss issues
Test and track various outlets. Create different telephone numbers to track call origins or use a call-tracking service.
Be sure to ask new patients during their initial visit how they found out about your practice (and keep a record and analyze the results after a month or two).

Most patients read reviews of local businesses. Ask them to write a review of your practice on Google, Yelp and/or Facebook.

Become a community presence. Some ideas include:

Seek out local community centers, like a library or senior center, and offer to speak about and answer questions on the benefits of chiropractic care. Always leave marketing material behind with the audience after your presentation, i.e., business cards, flyers or premium gifts, like pens and refrigerator magnets. Be sure to have them visit your website.
Organize a zoom/webinar for a retirement housing community.

Chiropractic care for senior patients

The benefits of having a broad-based patient population are important for any successful chiropractic practice. Taking some time to focus on the senior-aged audience will ensure a favorable business result. Like Monopoly, when you offer chiropractic care services to seniors, you’re letting them take a long, pleasant stroll on Boardwalk.

RUSSELL GREENSEID, DC, is a chiropractor, major shareholder and chief of staff at Metro Healthcare Partners in Brooklyn, N.Y. He is a trusted advocate and respected voice in the chiropractic field with a doctor of chiropractic degree from New York Chiropractic College in Seneca Falls, N.Y. He resides in Short Hills, N.J., with his wife and two sons. Visit metrohealthnyc.com for more information on Greenseid and his multidisciplinary team of professionals.

REFERENCES

1. https://www.jchs.harvard.edu/